AI return on investment

[I was NC]

To paraphrase certain TV ads, I needed cash now (had to buy a warrior). The game was on turn 36 and the only known other civ was Arabia, who was neutral towards me. I offered 1 gold/turn in exchange for 25 up front, and he countered with 22. Since that was still enough I took it.

Later I pulled up a spreadsheet and ran the numbers. Using a simple internal rate of return calculation, Harun's loan/investment in me yielded 2.1%, which is not that great in real-world terms. Plus that presumes we don't go to war in the next 30 turns.

A friendly AI might even accept a better deal (not sure). Regardless it seems like a worthwhile trade if your future cash flow can sustain it.

Just a random thought, others may have already analyzed this far more already.

 

[Paszczak]

Well, for some reason AI values gold per turn higher than flat amount, so they are happy to pay 240 for a Luxury but will only offer 7/turn (210 total) if not friends .

As for the loan thing, a common exploit is to trade all your gpt and luxuries for AI's gold one turn before Declaration of Friendship expires and then declare war on the next turn. You get all their gold and they get nothing.

 

[Chum]

Well, for some reason AI values gold per turn higher than flat amount, so they are happy to pay 240 for a Luxury but will only offer 7/turn (210 total) if not friends .

As for the loan thing, a common exploit is to trade all your gpt and luxuries for AI's gold one turn before Declaration of Friendship expires and then declare war on the next turn. You get all their gold and they get nothing.

If they offer 7/turn, you can bump it to 8 and they'll take it.

 

[Fluffball]

If they offer 7/turn, you can bump it to 8 and they'll take it.

Since when?

Even with DoF they only seem to want to give me 7gpt...noticed this when i had a DoF but they didn't have the gold to pay a lump sum so tried it with someone who had the gold incase they weren't really friends and they offered me 240 lump sum but only 7gpt.

Things get even messier when you ask for a lump sum and some gpt...

 

[Chum]

Since when?

Even with DoF they only seem to want to give me 7gpt...noticed this when i had a DoF but they didn't have the gold to pay a lump sum so tried it with someone who had the gold incase they weren't really friends and they offered me 240 lump sum but only 7gpt.

Things get even messier when you ask for a lump sum and some gpt...

8 gpt is standard for a lux at neutral or better. Dunno what game you're playing.

5gpt if they're not really thrilled with you, 3 if they're ready for war. They do try to lowball you from time to time, but they always stick to the above formulae.

 

[Sagax]

8 gpt is standard for a lux at neutral or better. Dunno what game you're playing.

5gpt if they're not really thrilled with you, 3 if they're ready for war. They do try to lowball you from time to time, but they always stick to the above formulae.

Weird, because in my games AI never accepts 8gpt even with DoF. The most I can get out of them is 240 right now or 7gpt + 8 gold.

 

[Chum]

Weird, because in my games AI never accepts 8gpt even with DoF. The most I can get out of them is 240 right now or 7gpt + 8 gold.

Interesting. Might be a speed thing. It's 8gpt on quick, but 210 lump sum, which simultaneously means that resources are both more expensive and cheaper on quick than on standard. 8gpt is obviously better than 7gpt, especially considering you can keep that trade going indefinitely, so 25 vs 30 turns doesn't matter. I don't care enough to play a standard game long enough to find an AI other than Alexander to trade with.

So, you may be right.

 

[Browd]

Yeah, quick vs. standard explains the confusion.